


Ready for the Downslide (but not for spring to well up)

by ofvulcan



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Academy Era, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-01
Updated: 2013-09-01
Packaged: 2017-12-25 06:44:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/949925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ofvulcan/pseuds/ofvulcan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He’d heard people describe falling in love as a slow process, one that you only realized was occurring when it was already too late. That it was like waking up – those moments of semi-consciousness, and then, suddenly, you were awake.</p><p>But Leo knew right from the start.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ready for the Downslide (but not for spring to well up)

**Author's Note:**

> So this was heavily inspired by Vienna Teng's [Stray Italian Greyhound](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLySk3i4dFI) (and by heavily inspired I mean I've been listening to this song on repeat for six hours). If you haven't heard it, you totally should. Go do it. Go. But read this fic first. Or don't.
> 
> I don't think there's any major warnings for this fic besides spoilers for the 2009 movie?? Oh, and this is as of right now un-beta'd, so any mistakes are entirely my fault, so yell at me for them~

It was all very inconvenient, really.

New job, new place, new people, and a new attitude, and then this _kid_ had to come along and mess everything up.

Typical.

Leo shouldn’t have expected anything else, though. If he was being perfectly honest, it was just his luck that his whole world would be turned around in exactly the way he didn’t want it to be. He’d heard people describe falling in love as a slow process, one that you only realized was occurring when it was already too late. That it was like waking up – those moments of half-sleep, and then, suddenly, consciousness.

But Leo knew right from the start.

The kid had a glow about him, even wearing a bloodstained shirt he’d probably slept in the night before. At first, Leo thought it was the hair, but then it had seeped out through his voice, pouring from his lips like molten gold, traces of blood still stuck to the inside of his swollen nostrils. Leo had given him his flask, watched as the kid downed the liquor with a faint grimace, and knew that he was doomed.

That would have been all fine and dandy if it had stayed at just that – everyone fell in love with complete strangers sometimes, but most people forgot about them and never saw them again.

Leo should be so lucky.

Fast forward six hours, two shuttlecraft rides, one haircut and one wardrobe change later, and Leo stood outside his new dorm, patting down those ridiculous red pants (did the entire uniform have to be _red_? After his four years were up, Leo promised himself he’d never wear that godforsaken colour again). He leafed through his PADD, pulling up his new lock code and jamming it into the keypad, watching as the doors slid to the side to reveal–

Goddamn.

“Bones!” The kid was sprawled on the couch, his regulation red shirt discarded, revealing a stark white undershirt stretched across his chest. His face had been cleaned, and he’d shaved, but it was without a doubt the same kid from the shuttlecraft.

“What a coincidence,” he said, pushing himself up into a sitting position and giving Leo a smirk that said that it might not have been such a coincidence after all, “Look’s like we’re roommates.”

“Yeah... You’re--?” Leo cocked an eyebrow, trying to sound like he actually didn’t remember the kid’s name.

“Jim.” Weren’t they just a cute couple, humouring each other’s lies like a pair of old friends, “Jim Kirk. You’re Leonard McCoy, a.k.a. Bones, whose wife took the whole damn planet in the divorce, hailing from beautiful, sunny… Alabama?”

“Georgia.”

Jim snapped his fingers, flashing a smile, “So close.

“So what brings you to the Academy anyways? Besides the whole banishment, I mean. What’re you studying?” Jim settled himself back down onto the couch, throwing his socked feet onto the armrest, looking up at Leo with an amused smirk on his face.

“Medicine,” Leo shrugged his backpack off onto the table beside the doors, leaving his case beside it, “You?”

“Ooh, a doctor. Y’know, my mom always wanted me to marry someone intelligent.” Jim joked, waggling his eyebrows as he fidgeted, getting the right angle to watch Leo as he walked into the kitchen, examining their new living space, “I haven’t decided yet. ‘m thinking of getting into engineering. I’m good with my hands.”

Leo could hear the smirk through the door. Trust him to start falling in love with a cocky, flirty bastard.

He didn’t hear Jim’s footsteps until he was right behind him, holding a metal hipflask in his outstretched hand.

“Did you get that from my bag?” Leo raised an eyebrow at Jim, who rolled his eyes in return. Leo took the flask.

“You think so little of me, Bones. You’re not the only one who thought to smuggle in banned substances. That’s my flask.” Jim said matter-of-factly, “This one, however, I _did_ get from your bag.”

He pulled another flask out from his pocket, unscrewing the cap with a sly smirk.

“Would you stop calling me that?” Leo grumbled as he did the same, swirling the blue liquid inside around. Leo cocked an eyebrow, but didn’t comment on the Romulan Ale.

Jim must’ve caught the eyebrow raise, though, because he grinned, ignoring Leo’s request completely, “What’s the point in breaking academy policy if you’re only going to do a half-assed job?”

Leo had to agree with him on that.

“So, what d’you think? ‘Here’s to new beginnings’ sound okay? Too cheesy?” Jim babbled, “Ah, what am I kidding, I love a bit of cheese every now and then. Let’s just go with it.”

“Would you stop talking and drink?” Leo griped, raising his flask. It had almost reached his lips before Jim’s hand shot out, grabbing onto Leo’s wrist to stop him, lowering Leo’s arm. Jim’s eyes were incredibly blue as they stared into Leo’s, holding his gaze as he raised his flask.

“Here’s to new beginnings.” He wrapped his lips around the flask, drinking, and Leo did the same, unable to help himself as he watched Jim’s Adam’s apple bob.

If Leo ever had any hope of having a nice, quiet four years, filled with nothing but education and the occasional drink, it had flown right out the window with those four stupid words.

 

~*~

 

Leo quickly found out that the phrase ‘a lover, not a fighter’ did not apply to Jim.

He was certainly a lover, there was no denying that (Leo had seen enough people pass through their dorm to know to leave the hot water kettle on for them in the morning, or, if he was feeling particularly generous, make an extra stack of pancakes for them to eat on their way out the door), but that didn’t excuse his reputation for being reckless, and, frankly, stupid when it came to knowing when to shut up.

Six months into their first year, and Jim had stumbled into their room at 3AM with blood pouring out of his lip, or his nose, or whatever new scratch he’d managed to get himself enough times to convince Leo to tag along on Jim’s bar escapades. The kid really did have a talent for running his mouth, and that often got him into trouble (trouble that Leo more times than not had to break up).

“One day, you’re going to get in way over your head, and I’m not going to be there to rescue you.”

Jim’s arm was around Leo’s shoulder, his red uniform dark with spilled alcohol and blood, and he was hunched over, leaning his weight onto Leo.

“Don’ need you to rescue me.” Jim slurred through his swollen lips.

“Uh huh, tell me that in the morning when all you wake up with is a hangover instead of a broken arm, you fool.” Leo grumbled, hitching Jim up higher onto his shoulder. Jim looked up, grinning, his teeth stained red with blood.

“You’re awesome, Bones.” He muttered, into Leo’s shoulder, smearing his blood across his uniform like a paintbrush would a canvas, “Love you, man.”

Leo didn’t reply, just tightened his grip around Jim’s waist, carrying the kid back home.

A drowning man carrying his life raft to safety – now there was a new one.

 

~*~

 

Despite his father’s (and therefore, Jim’s) reputation of being a brave and serious cadet, Jim was basically the human incarnate of a hyperactive puppy. Kind of like a Pomeranian, all yappy and annoying, biting at Leo’s ankles like a plague that wouldn’t leave him

Their second year at the academy presented them with separate dorms as Leo moved up higher in the medical track and Jim veered closer to command. Not that it really made all that much of a difference. The only time Jim wasn’t in Leo’s room was when he was taking someone else home, which wasn’t that often, now that Jim was focussing less on sleeping with anything that breathed and more on warpcore physics.

Leo had to commend the kid for pulling himself together. Whatever he’d done in the summer between their first and second year had obviously put him on track for the future.

Unfortunately, Leo’s feelings towards Jim had not lessened during the summer months when they had been parted, as Leo had previously hoped. In fact, they’d strengthened, pulling him deeper under the waves.

Whoever had come up with the idea that absence made the heart grow fonder was a mean bastard.

“You seen my sock?” Jim yelled as he hopped through Leo’s dorm, pulling the one sock he did have onto his foot. They both had a lecture on leadership (Leo laughed at the thought) in fifteen minutes. Leo had been ready for the past half an hour. Jim, of course, had left getting ready to the last second.

“Behind the couch,” Leo muttered, not looking up from his PADD, scanning through the morning news, “You threw it behind there during the holo last night after complaining about feeling ‘restricted’.”

Jim padded past Leo, crouching behind the couch until he retrieved his sock, pulling it onto his foot with a small amount of difficulty. Leo turned in his seat, watching Jim with a raised eyebrow. The kid stood up, brushing down his uniform. His hair wasn’t brushed and his collar was half turned down, but his eyes were bright and his smile was wide and genuine.

“Ready to go, princess?” Leo joked, rolling his eyes as he pushed himself off of his seat, tucking his PADD into his backpack.

“Ready when you are, dearest.” Jim smirked, shoving his now-socked feet into his shoes, nudging Leo’s shoulder on his way out the door. They were going to be late, but Leo couldn’t bring himself to care.

 

~*~

 

If he hadn’t loved the kid so much, he probably would have killed him.

“Did you see that, Bones?” Jim laughed as they exited the simulation, smacking Leo in the chest playfully, “That was awesome!”

“What the hell did you do back there?” Leo grabbed hold of Jim’s wrist, pulling him back. A cadet behind them grunted as he was forced to sidestep so as not to walk directly into Leo’s back. Tough. “You just beat the Kobayashi Maru!”

“Yeah I did!” His grin widening as he grabbed onto Leo’s lapels, shaking him slightly, “No-win scenario, my ass.”

“Jim, how the hell did you do that?” Leo stared at him intently, still shocked by the events that had just transpired. The kid had literally beat the unbeatable test, sending a great big flaming ‘FUCK YOU’ to the academy while he did it.

“A magician never reveals his tricks.” Jim winked. Then, using his pull on Leo’s uniform shirt, he leaned forward, planting a kiss on Leo’s cheek. He stepped back, beaming, pointing at Leo.

“I’ll see you later, Bones,” he called over his shoulder as he walked down the steps, “Drinks are on me tonight!”

If Leo had known that they’d never get to have those drinks, that they wouldn’t even be able to go back to their dorms that night to sleep over their small victory, he might not have been grinning at the back of Jim’s head. If he’d known that in just a few short hours they’d be jetting off to the black on a suicide mission, he probably wouldn’t have raised his eyes to the sky in fond exasperation as the man he’d fallen stupidly in love with walked away.

But he didn’t know that. He didn’t know any of that.

So he laughed, the ghost of Jim’s lips still on his cheek.

 

~*~

 

For the past three years, Leo had been silently wishing that his ever-growing affection for Jim Kirk would one day disappear and just leave him alone. For the most part, it was annoying. The kid was insane, he wouldn’t sit still and he was frankly a pain in Leo’s ass.

Then there were times like these where he wished he wasn’t in love with Jim just so he wouldn’t have to _care_ so much.

When he saw Jim, Spock and Pike materialize on the transporter pad, Leo was positive his heart stopped. It was a good thing all the tricorders were pointed at Pike, who leaned heavily on Jim, and not on himself, or there would’ve been even more chaos.

Leo raced forward, grabbing Pike from Jim’s failing grasp and handing him over to M’Benga as soon as he arrived. Leo looked around, eyes searching for gold hair and blue eyes, and finally saw Jim marching away, Spock a few steps ahead of him.

Leo was amazed by how in control he looked.

He looked like a _captain_.

Leo surged forward, grabbing Jim’s wrist and yanking him back. Jim looked like he was about to protest before his eyes met Leo’s, and he stopped short, blinking.

“I’ve—”

“Don’t you ever do something so goddamn stupid again.”

They stared at each other for a moment longer, before Leo’s vice-like grip released Jim’s wrist. Then Jim was gone, leaving Leo breathing heavily in the corridor to stare after his shadow.

 

~*~

 

They were in red again, and Leo wasn’t surprised to find that his promise from four years earlier still stood – in two hours, once this stupid graduation party was over, he promised to burn every article of red clothing he owned.

“This is oddly reminiscent, isn’t it?”

Leo turned around to find Jim holding two hipflasks, a wide grin on his face. They were alone in a corner of the room, the rest of the graduating class mingling towards the centre of the hall.

All traces of the Nero incident were gone from Jim’s face, save for the faint worry lines that had formed on his brow.

Leo kinda liked them, anyway.

He took one of the flasks from Jim, the liquid sloshing inside. He didn’t have to look to know it was Romulan Ale.

“What’re we toasting to this time? New beginnings again?”

“Something like that.” Jim grinned raising his flask to Leo, but was stopped by a hand around his wrist. Leo took the flask from Jim, putting them both in his pocket. Jim raised his eyebrow and Leo almost laughed at the bemused expression on his face.

“Seems a bit hypocritical to toast to new beginnings in the same way we did for the last beginnings.”

“For old times sake? I thought you liked all that old-fashioned stuff anyway—”

 Jim was cut off as Leo leaned forward, pressing his lips to Jim’s softly in a careful kiss. Jim stiffened slightly in surprise but then, much to Leo’s surprise, brought a hand up to cup Leo’s jaw, deepening the kiss.

When they broke apart some moments later, their foreheads resting together, Jim grinned widely. His eyes were closed, and Leo wished he would open them, just so he could let himself drown again.

“Y’know, Bones,” Jim murmured, his hand falling to Leo’s shoulder, a sly smirk on his lips, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were falling in love with me.”

“I’m not falling anymore. Pretty sure that now I’m on stable ground.”

“Hopeless romantic.” Jim laughed softly, pressing a chaste kiss to Leo’s lips before stepping back to look at him. His face was flushed, lips wet and red (and maybe Leo didn’t hate _everything_ red), but his eyes were shining bright, and for once, Leo thought that maybe falling in love with Jim Kirk wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

“… Can we drink now?”

“You’re a goddamn ingrate.”


End file.
